1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a scanner apparatus to scan receipts into a computer and a software program which automatically organizes all the information that can be viewed in various formats, namely, tabular statements, pie-charts, etc., and allows for record keeping, budgeting and reconciliation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Almost everybody might have wondered at one time or other about where his/her salary is going. Many people think “Although I make more than enough money, I do not know how I am spending it”.
You might have attempted to keep track of how you were spending by saving all the receipts, checks, bills and notes about cash transactions, etc. You patiently entered all the receipts into the computer (namely into one of the budgeting or finance managing software programs). This is very laborious and time consuming and after a while you will loose patience and stop entering the data. There ends the plan to know where your salary is going.
Now, with this invention, you can stop wasting your time typing. Simply take your file of receipts and feed them into the scanner. Within seconds after scanning the receipts, the software organizes all the information into a file on your computer that can be viewed in various formats. It's fast, easy, and convenient. Once the receipts are scanned into your computer, you can use the software to manage your expense information.
A thorough patent search resulted in the following related patents but none of them has proposed so far the idea proposed in this invention. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,216 entitled “Method and apparatus for processing an image, storage medium for storing an image processing program” relates to an image method and more particularly to mask processing (noise reduction, smoothing of a pattern or the like) of binary image data by software.
There are a number of different kinds of scanners commercially available and some of these have been patented. However, none of them are of the type described in this invention. When a receipt is fed or inserted the scanner of this invention automatically grabs and moves the receipt while it is being scanned and stops at the completion of the scanning of the bill. In addition, the data is automatically captured and organized into a database which allows the data scanned to be viewable in a number of predefined formats which also can be customized if desired.
The prior art references describe excellent applicability to various purposes other than the purpose the present invention is intended. For instance, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,640 entitled “Business card scanner and method of use” relates, in general, to optoelectronic devices and, in particular, to scanning mixed media information cards, storing the information, and displaying the scanned information in a variety of display formats. However, feeding and scanning of receipts and having associated software program to organize the data is not dealt with.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,663 entitled “Portable image scanner having manual or automatic feed” relates to an image scanner for automatically scanning a document to optically read out and output image data that is on the document to an image processing device such as a computer, and more particularly to a portable image scanner capable of selectively uniting a cover member to a scanner body to feed a cut-sheet document to be scanned, or detaching the cover member from the scanner body to move the independent scanner body on a thick document such as a book.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,241 entitled “Attachment of a mobile scanner to a portable computer” generally relates to a portable scanning system and more particularly to a versatile attachment of a mobile scanner to a portable computer.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,625 entitled “Automated document cashing system” relates to automated banking systems and machines including those which employ or are an improvement on automatic teller machines (ATMs). These systems perform the usual ATM functions and additionally cash money orders and checks for the user without the presence or the assistance of a teller, allow the depositing of cash into the machine and provide additional functions, such as transferring money by wire, depositing cash into an account or purchasing end user items from the machine.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,877 entitled “Text acquisition and organizing system” relates to apparatus for acquiring and manipulating text and, more particularly, to apparatus for acquiring discrete text strings and automatically formatting those text strings, as they are received, into a preselected data format structure. There are a number of situations in which a researcher or reader may desire to record and organize printed or displayed text included in an existing work for future reference or for some other future use. As used herein, the term “text” is meant to encompass information that is intended for presentation for human comprehension and may comprise symbols, phrases, sentences in natural or artificial language, pictures, diagrams, and tables.
There has not been proposed so far a configuration consisting of a scanner and a software program in order to achieve the purpose described by the present patent application. Thus, none of the prior art references proposed the idea of this invention.